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Trump Does Public Drive By at Walter Reed; Trump Campaign Defends Safety Protocols; Markets Settle as Trump Convalesces; Trump Takes Joyride to Wave at Supporters Despite COVID-19; U.S. Sees Most Cases in Five-Day Period Since August; NYC Mayor Pushes to Close Non- essential Businesses in Hot Spots; Israel Creates Underground COVID-19 Hospital; Death of 19-Year-Old Woman Sparks Outrage in India. Aired 1- 2a ET
Aired October 05, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers all over the world. I'm Michael Holmes.
And we begin our breaking news coverage with some jarring video of the U.S. president, Donald Trump.
Here he is flouting all CDC guidelines to go on a joyride in a sealed SUV on Sunday while still contagious with the coronavirus. All just to wave at his supporters.
He had Secret Service agents with him, of course, as he always does. And the White House is claiming there were appropriate precautions taken during the motorcade.
But a Walter Reed hospital physician who was not involved in the care of the president calls it "absurd."
Here's what he told CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, NON-MILITARY ATTENDING PHYSICIAN, WALTER REED HOSPITAL: Well, the idea that this would be cleared without any medical indication is absurd.
Masks or no masks, being inside a vehicle that is hermetically sealed, circulates virus inside and potentially puts people at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: President Trump's illness has left Americans with more questions than answers. His doctors say they hope to discharge him as early as Monday, despite at least two concerning drops in oxygen levels.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN DOOLEY, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: The patient continues to improve. He has remained without fever since Friday morning, his vital signs are stable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BRIAN GARIBALDI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S MEDICAL TEAM: Today he feels well, he's been up and around. Our plan for today is to have him to eat and drink. Be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SEAN CONLEY, WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN: I'd like to reiterate how pleased we all are with the president's recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And here's the confusing part. Doctors says the president is doing well despite the fact he's taking all those medications you see on the list. Including dexamethasone. Now that's a drug typically given to patients who are seriously ill with the virus who are on supplemental oxygen or ventilation.
CNN's Sara Westwood joins me now from Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Good to see you again, Sara.
Let's start with the drive around, the little outing. Why?
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Why is the key question here, Michael. It is not clear what the president had hoped to gain from that drive by.
He got into the motorcade, rode by supporters who had gathered here at Walter Reed but then risked exposure for the Secret Service agents who did ride in the SUV along with him.
You could see through the windows that they were wearing full medical gear while they were in that car with the president who was wearing a mask. But they could potentially need to quarantine for two weeks because of their proximity to an actively infectious patient, Trump, there. So a lot of risks were involved in that drive by.
Nonetheless, the White House is saying that appropriate precautions were taken for that outing and that the decision to get into the car, leave the hospital and do that drive by was cleared by the president's medical team.
But, of course, the entire episode, Michael, just raises questions about how seriously Trump is taking the virus in the face of his own struggle with symptoms right now in the hospital. HOLMES: Yes, absolutely. Everybody wondering about that. So when it comes to the hospital, another day of confusion and contradiction. What more do we know about the president's treatment and his condition?
WESTWOOD: Yes, Michael. We are still getting mixed signals from this White House about just how healthy the president is right now.
In briefing reporters today, the president's medical team revealed that he was given a dose of dexamethasone, as you mentioned, a corticosteroid that's given to patients who are typically pretty ill with COVID-19.
We say Dr. Conley acknowledge for the first time that the president has been given supplemental oxygen in the course of his illness and that he has had two -- what he described as transient drops in his blood oxygen level.
So twice now the president's blood saturation levels have fallen to an area where doctors have gotten concerned.
But all of that doesn't really fit with the statement from the president's medical team that he is healthy enough to be discharged potentially as soon as Monday.
That doesn't fit with the image of a patient who is so sick that he is needing supplemental oxygen and is being given another serious medication on top of the remdesivir course that he has been taking since he has been at Walter Reed.
Dr. Conley also acknowledged questions about his credibility when he was answered why he was evasive when pressed repeatedly on Saturday about whether the president has been on supplemental oxygen since his diagnosis.
He said he wasn't trying to dodge those questions that he refused to answer on Saturday, that he was simply trying to reflect the upbeat attitude of his patient.
Suggesting he didn't want to make the disease sound any worse than necessary to the public.
[01:05:00]
HOLMES: Study that in medical school. Sarah Westwood at Walter Reed. Thank you very much.
All right. Let's turn now to Dr. Eric Topol. He's a cardiologist and professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research. He joins me now from Lahoya in California.
Doctor, thanks for doing so.
I wanted to ask you about this drive by outing. The president earlier said he now understands COVID after contracting it and then gets into a car with two other people just to wave at supporters. What's your take on that?
DR. ERIC TOPOL, CARDIOLOGIST, SCRIPPS RESEARCH CLINIC, CALIFORNIA: Well, good to be with you, Michael. It really seemed preposterous to put some people at risk, for his doctors to let him go out like that, of the hospital. It didn't make any sense at all.
HOLMES: We're still in many ways -- we were talking about this earlier. Still in many ways having to read between the lines given the opaqueness of official information.
What do you make of the known regimen? There's this experimental cocktail which hasn't even been given an emergency use authorization then remdesivir and now this dexamethasone.
What does that tell you about his likely condition? And with those medications, the risk versus reward factor?
TOPOL: Sure. Well, it's very difficult to interpret because we're not getting the truth, we're not getting the real facts. So we have to kind of piece it together.
It seems as though he really took ill Friday morning when his oxygen dropped and that may be the reason why a lot of medications were used.
The monoclonal antibody cocktail is something that's really a potent neutralizing antibody that has not been really -- as you say, been approved, there have been nine other people that have had it for compassionate use.
It makes sense, in some respects, but of course what triggered it isn't clear.
The other two medicines, remdesivir and dexamethasone, as you mentioned, they both are used in severe cases. And what we're told is he only had transient drop in his oxygen blood saturation. So it isn't making sense.
Unless he had a more severe case and they were just trying to use everything.
The problem with the dexamethasone is that it suppresses the immune response. So if it isn't a serious condition of the COVID illness, it could actually make things considerably worse.
HOLMES: Yes. There are just so many questions unanswered. Another thing that came out was this lung scan with so-called expected findings. And that could mean anything, of course.
Pneumonia, perhaps, in the past. Lung issue have included that with that so-called what is it ground-glass opacity. What are the odds of that being it? Because we are left to guess.
As we've also known from others who've recovered from initial infection there can be lasting impacts from lung scarring and neurological issues and so on.
TOPOL: Absolutely, Michael. I think it's fair to say that he had abnormalities on the CAT scan of his lungs.
As you say, the classic for COVID is ground-glass opacifications of the pneumonia and even in people who don't have symptoms of COVID, if you do lung scans, you'll find those.
So this is pretty clear that it was abnormal.
And for the hedging to occur. Which is when asked the question directly, he said the expected finding. Well, the only thing we could expect is that there was indeed pneumonia.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes. And to that point, you tweeted on Sunday, and I'm going to quote you on it.
You said: "It's very sad to see a doctor now trained to lie. Of course the truth on all these medical matters inevitably comes out." Which was so well put.
How do you think the doctors are handling -- not the medical side but the inform the public side. And what are the risks of omission or playing down realities?
TOPOL: Well, the term you used "play it down," we've heard that before, right?
HOLMES: Yes. Yes.
TOPOL: And that's what we're seeing from the doctors, especially Dr. Conley. And it's really unfortunate.
If he just told us the truth or if he said I'd like to tell you about that but the president has specifically said I'm not to divulge that. But not to make things up or try to sidestep and be evasive.
There's been so much obfuscation here. And this is a serious matter. Because if the president is losing oxygen significantly or if he's getting drugs that could affect his mental status, that changes his capacity to function.
HOLMES: How do patients handle being struck down by the virus in an emotional sense? I'm curious how it changes people in your experience, especially somebody like the president who's been so cavalier. I imagine it's quite humbling as well as frightening.
TOPOL: Well, I mean, the main thing is it just sucks out your energy and -- profound fatigue.
[01:10:00]
And that's why when we look at these serial videos, it looks like he may be making clinical improvement. The videos perhaps tell more than the doctors are telling us.
But combined with the other symptoms, the difficulty breathing that he undoubtedly had when his oxygen dropped precipitously, the high fever that he spiked -- we're only seeing these things confirmed a couple of days later when they happened on Friday.
So I think it's fair to say at one point he was really down and out and that's probably why they wanted to get him to the hospital as soon as possible. And likely, he resisted that for a while.
HOLMES: Is it worrying that, despite the positive outlook being put out, and as you say in the videos not looking too bad, is it not true that the progression of many people who had the virus is that there is often a precipitous drop in a patient's condition a week or even ten days after initial symptoms? Would you be heartened right now or would you very cautious?
TOPOL: Yes, excellent point. So what happens is a person can actually get much more stable for a stretch, as you say, and then they have this dysregulation of their immune system, their immune system goes into overdrive and it's basically a cytokine storm. And especially more common in people of advanced age.
So that could happen. So he's not out of the woods by any means. That's why the idea of him going home tomorrow seems a real reach.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. Exactly. I just want to ask you one other quick question too. Because there's been a lot of talk about the president's the most tested person in the world and all these tests have been going on.
But testing isn't prevention, obviously, is it? And finding out that you're positive or negative is secondary to stopping the infection in the first place. And that's been sort of a bad message in many ways.
TOPOL: Absolutely. The tests that were being done routinely -- we still don't know when the last negative test was for the president -- but those tests were a high sensitivity issue, that is a lot of false negatives.
And so to rely on that solely is a big mistake. That's why we need masks, that's why we need physical distancing.
So this idea that he could live in a bubble and have frequent tests was a flawed one from the start.
HOLMES: Great advice. Dr. Eric Topol, pleasure to speak with you. Thank you so much.
TOPOL: Same here, Michael. Thank you.
HOLMES: OK. Well, President Trump's campaign stops have been largely free of precautions like face masks and social distancing.
What a senior advisor will happen at the rallies now. That's still to come.
And also this. Global stocks facing uncertainty as President Trump battles COVID-19. We'll tell you how markets in Asia are reacting so far. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
HOLMES: Welcome back. The lack of clarity from President Trump's medical team about his health is raising concerns about just how sick he really is with the coronavirus.
And it certainly didn't help things when he bolted from the hospital for a drive to wave at supporters.
Brian Stelter looks at the fall out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. Yes. If this photo-op was meant to be reassuring, it actually had the opposite effect.
There was an avalanche of concern about the Secret Service officers who were in the car with the president who may have been in danger as a result of this bizarre publicity stunt.
The White House Correspondents Association which represents members of the media that cover the White House immediately spoke out and denounced the circumstances of this trip.
Because the White House press pool which is a small group of reporters that are supposed to travel with the president at all times was not notified about this trip and was not with the president during this drive along the road here at Walter Reed.
Here's a statement from the White House Correspondents Association pointing out this is a break of protocol that is very concerning.
Quote: "It is outrageous for the president to have left the hospital, even briefly, amid a health crisis, without a protective pool present to ensure that the American people know where their president is and how he is doing.
Now more than ever, the American public deserves independent coverage of the president so they can be reliably informed about his health."
Those are very true words from the White House Correspondents Association.
We're in the situation in the United States right now where there's a lot of propaganda coming from the White House. These photos that may or may not be staged that make the president look like he's doing very well. What we need is independent news coverage to try to verify those assertions.
We do know according to White House sources that are telling CNN the president is watching some of this news coverage, he is paying attention to what is being said about him.
CNN's Jim Acosta reports that the president's angry with White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows. Because Meadows went out and told reporters, trying to be anonymous, that the president was not doing as well as his doctors claimed.
These medical briefings by the doctors at Walter Reed seem to be performances put on for the president.
And that is very concerning, no matter what you think of American politics. This is not a partisan issue. Everybody should have accurate information about their president's health. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, thanks to Brian Stelter there. Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign seems tone deaf to the implications of the president's infection.
Senior campaign advisor, Jason Miller, telling CNN's Anna Cabrera there won't be any additional safety measures for upcoming Trump rallies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, SENIOR TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: So let me tell you what we're going to do. We're going to make sure that we take everybody's temperature as they're coming into events. We're going to give everybody a mask, we're going to give everybody --
ANNA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Which is what you've been doing.
MILLER: -- hand sanitizer.
CABRERA: Which is what you've been doing.
MILLER: We're going to encourage people to wear their mask. And you know what, that's been a very safe and responsible thing to do. And that's what we've done from the beginning of this. We're taking this very seriously. And so we've always been --
CABRERA: Jason --
MILLER: -- leading from the front on that.
CABRERA: Jason.
MILLER: And we're going to continue to on that.
CABRERA: Why do you -- how is this very safe and very responsible? We just note from that Rose Garden event --
MILLER: It --
CABRERA: -- for example, where people weren't wearing masks, where people weren't social distancing. There were multiple --
MILLER: So yes, let me talk about that for a moment.
CABRERA: -- people who essentially contracted the coronavirus.
MILLER: Because --
CABRERA: And it's the very same environment that we were seeing at your rallies.
MILLER: Yes. Let --
[01:20:00]
CABRERA: Except for there are even more people who are packed in.
MILLER: So everybody --
CABRERA: And who --
MILLER: Everybody --
CABRERA: -- have even --
MILLER: -- who's around the president --
CABRERA: -- fewer resources --
MILLER: On everybody --
CABRERA: -- to make sure --
MILLER: Everybody who's around the president --
CABRERA: -- many of them have been tested.
MILLER: OK. Everybody who's around the president is tested. People are kept a distance away from the president. Also, there's masks that are distributed, hand sanitizer that's passed out.
There's a lot of things that we don't know about this virus. So for example, one reporter I know --
CABRERA: But we do know that it is --
MILLER: -- that contracted COVID --
CABRERA: -- transmitted by air.
MILLER: Ana, you have to -- Ana, you got to let me --
CABRERA: And people who wear masks --
MILLER: Ana, Ana. Can I -- Ana, can I just please -- please just let me finish this answer.
CABRERA: Yes.
MILLER: Because I'm trying to be responsive to you.
CABRERA: OK. I'll let you finish. Forgive me.
MILLER: OK. So one reporter who contracted coronavirus was wearing a mask the entire time and still contracted coronavirus. And so the important thing here is there are a lot of things we don't know about COVID.
But what we do have to do is stay vigilant in developing these therapies and these vaccinations to make sure that we defeat it. We can't stay locked up the rest of our lives.
We're going to be smart, we're going to be responsible about this but we're not going to hide in fear. President Trump wants to get life back to normal for people. And that's a critical point.
On the other side with Joe Biden, I think he wants to stay locked up forever.
CABRERA: Well --
MILLER: President Trump is going to lead us through this -
CABRERA: Jason.
MILLER: -- and he's going to defeat it.
CABRERA: Jason, let's be clear. The president is in the hospital right now because he contracted the virus. And he has put himself at risk by conducting business the way he has --
MILLER: Well, Ana --
CABRERA: -- and conducting some of these events. But let me just come back to --
MILLER: But hold on, hold on. Wait, wait but there's --
CABRERA: -- you're part of his campaign.
MILLER: But hold on. Ana, let me --
CABRERA: So let me just go back to --
MILLER: But hold on --
CABRERA: -- a question that I asked you earlier.
MILLER: Ana, but you misstated.
CABRERA: Excuse me.
MILLER: But you misstated. Just real quick. You misstated something before. President Trump followed all of the protocols.
CABRERA: No, he didn't.
MILLER: Everybody around him -- CABRERA: No, he didn't.
MILLER: Everybody around him was tested. They kept distant. And still somehow he contracted it.
CABRERA: OK.
MILLER: My whole point earlier is that --
CABRERA: That's just -- that's just not true though, Jason.
MILLER: -- there are a lot of things --
CABRERA: We have --
MILLER: -- we just don't know.
CABRERA:: We have the videos --
MILLER: But it is.
CABRERA:: -- in which the president is at events where people aren't following the protocols, where people aren't social distancing --
MILLER: Where everybody --
CABRERA:: Where people aren't --
MILLER: Where everybody --
CABRERA:: -- wearing masks.
MILLER: Everybody has been tested.
CABRERA:: Who aren't following the CDC guidelines or the coronavirus task force guidance --
MILLER: Ana, he's the most --
CABRERA:: -- as to how best to --
MILLER: He's probably the most tested --
CABRERA:: -- stay safe until we have a vaccine. Jason, let me ask you because you are --
MILLER: He's probably the most tested person on the planet.
CABRERA:: -- on the Trump Campaign, a few questions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Extraordinary, isn't it? Let's take a look at how the markets are reacting to President Trump's coronavirus infection. CNN's John Defterios is live in Abu Dhabi. Always good to see you, my friend. JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR:. Thank you.
HOLMES: This is a shift from Friday's sell off. Is this about President Trump's improvement or perhaps a widening in the polls for Joe Biden?
DEFTERIOS: I think it's a bit of both, to be frank, Michael. We have a little bit more clarity, what's happening with the president.
The joy ride, I think investors probably looked like in the middle of the night here, it's Trump being Trump. So they're not very shocked by that outlook.
And I think the poll widening from the "NBC News" poll, "The Wall Street Journal" to 14 percent gives some predictability about the future.
That we may not have this hung presidential election come November 3rd and then have this uncertainty for a full month. So that's what the market's reflecting right now.
Let's take a look at the U.S. futures which are trading up below one percent but they've been pretty stable considering the volatility we saw on Friday.
And the Asia markets are singing a similar tale, if you will. We have Tokyo and Hong Kong and Seoul up one or one and a quarter percent. Australia's announced another infrastructure stimulus plan so that's why we're seeing that gain of better than two and-a-half percent.
There's also, I think, Michael, a realization that Joe Biden is not going to take the global economy or the U.S. economy off the cliff to the left.
During the debate, President Trump was saying the socialist policies of Joseph Biden. But he's pretty predictable, pretty centrist, and so will be the economic team around him.
I think the biggest concern right now is COVID-19 and what impact it has through the first half of 2021 and vaccine distribution. There's also a belief that Joe Biden would handle that much better than the Trump Administration.
We had oil prices down four percent on Friday because of the worries about demand but you see them snapping back again. Both the U.S. benchmark and the global benchmark are training up better than two percent and above $40 a barrel for the international benchmark.
We broke that level on Friday after the shock of the announcement of the president and the uncertainty going into the polls at the same time.
HOLMES: Yes. I always marvel at the language from the Trump Campaign. A socialist would take exception to Joe Biden being lumped in with them. Trump has long sort of said that the success of the Dow rests upon his
shoulders, the market would collapse and there'd be fire and brimstone without him. What are we learning in the early stages of his bout with COVID about that?
DEFTERIOS: Yes. I like the way you put that, by the way. It's interesting but the facts are a different reality and there are surveys going back to post-World War II that even in the first year after an election, the Democratic Party does better and it's more sensible, actually, in budget management.
[01:25:00]
The other thing we have to worry about at this stage right now and at post-COVID 19 reality, which is not there yet, is that the debt levels have shot up through the roof here. Better than 100 percent of GDP for the United States.
So there's a belief that the Democrats will be more sensible. Taxes will go up, budget cuts will have to come forth but nothing too off the charts, if you will.
Also, the president was saying just a couple of weeks ago that we'd see a jobs report that is astronomically good.
If you look at the numbers, Michael, we're topping out here. Job re- creation of 660,000 is not bad but the unemployment is the highest for somebody going up for re-election.
This is the acid test for Donald Trump and what he'll be judged upon.
HOLMES: Yes. Great analysis, as always, John Defterios. Good to see you, my friend. Thank you.
DEFTERIOS: Thanks.
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM. What the White House is and is not doing to track down potential infections from this Rose Garden ceremony.
We'll have that and much more when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CNN HIGHLIGHT
JOE KAESER, PRESIDENT & CEO, SIEMENS: I'm actually very confident that Siemens got all the tools and all the power to be able to significantly contribute and build a better world by a better infrastructure, automation and digitalization.
There is some good comes out of that pandemic other than that people get to terms on how to work together and to collaborate, this is going to be the acceleration of the digital industry going forward.
HOLMES: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, everybody. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate you sticking around.
Now more on our breaking news coverage of the U.S. president Donald Trump's health.
The president continues, of course, to be treated at Walter Reed Medical Center for the coronavirus. But his doctors say it is possible he could be released later today.
Despite his contagious condition, the president went on a joy ride in a sealed SUV on Sunday evening popping out to wave at supporters and then heading back.
Accompanied, of course, by Secret Service agents who wore masks and medical gowns. But the question is, was that enough? It's often not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:29:30]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM everyone.
I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate you sticking around.
Now more on our breaking news coverage of the U.S. President Donald Trump's health. The president continues, of course, to be treated at Walter Reed Medical Center for the coronavirus but his doctors say it is possible he could be released later today.
Despite his contagious condition, the president went on a joyride in a sealed SUV on Sunday evening popping out wave at supporters and then heading back accompanied, of course, by Secret Service agents who wore masks and medical gowns but the question is was that enough. It's often not enough to protect people when they're in closed proximity to someone infected with the virus especially in a closed environment like that.
Meanwhile, the lack of transparency from the White House on the President's condition causing confusion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has not been briefed on the president's health and that is concerning given she's third in succession for the presidency after Vice President Mike Pence.
And the Attorney General William Barr is electing to self-quarantine this week, days after he too was potentially exposed to the coronavirus. A Justice Department spokesman says Barr has so far tested negative. But last week, he attended this White House ceremony, you see him there on your screen with many people who tested positive including President Trump and the woman he was speaking in that clip, Kellyanne Conway.
Now it's still unclear when the president first became infected. But after that ceremony, he did participate in several events, including of course, the presidential debate in Ohio. The governor there says the White House however never told him the president had potentially exposed people in his state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Well, they did not reach out to me. Now, I know that I talked to the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic the other day who gave me an update in their report. So I don't know whether they've reached to Cleveland Clinic or not. They did not talk to me about it, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Meanwhile a new poll shows most Americans believe it is President Trump's own fault that he contracted COVID-19. The ABC/Ipsos finds 72 percent of Americans think the president has not taken the risk of getting the virus seriously enough. And the same amount believed he didn't take appropriate precautions when it came to his own personal health.
On Sunday a senior Trump campaign adviser accused Democratic rival Joe Biden of using face masks as a prop. Yes, he did. Biden's deputy campaign manager though hitting back saying the attack quote, "tells you a lot of what you need to know" about Trump's crisis response.
Biden will be campaigning this week in Florida and Arizona. We're told he will be tested for coronavirus more often and will disclose the results.
Julian Zelizer is a CNN political analyst. He joins me now from New York. Great to see you again, Julian.
I mean first of all what did you make of that drive-by outing? The president, you know, he said he understands COVID after contracting and then gets into a car with two other people to wave to supporters. What do you think about it? It certainly wasn't a coronavirus teaching moment. Was it just ego?
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, no. Yes, it showed the opposite of what he was saying. There he is both endangering people in the car and also just taking this lightly even when he's in the middle of it.
I think it's sends the exact wrong message and I don't think shows strength. But it just raises more questions of even when he has COVID, does he understand what the nation has been through.
HOLMES: Yes. One of the issues, of course, is this is a White House that already has a huge credibility problem. And more gaffes and obfuscation on Sunday from the doctors. How big is that "what do we believe" factor and how important is it that Americans know the full picture when it comes to the health of their president?
ZELIZER: Well, this is a moment that credibility gap really hurts a president. I don't think many people are fully confident with what the doctors are saying or what his staff is saying if they really don't know what's going on.
And transparency is important. I think Americans deserve to know what is the status of the president. They deserve to know that in the middle of a pandemic when we need all our leaders really working on this issue full time. And Americans are already voting and I think they deserve to know exactly what the status of the president is.
So this lack of credibility and transparency is a big problem.
HOLMES: Yes. That is true. They are already voting, did remind (ph) of the day.
Biden has meanwhile removed negative ads while Donald Trump is hospitalized. Now, in purely political terms, should he not be fully steam ahead at the moment. Trump not only didn't slow down when Hillary Clinton had pneumonia but he ridiculed her multiple times, used the illness against her and the Trump campaign continues on with negative ads.
[01:34:42]
ZELIZER: Yes. And I don't think Biden really has to change his strategy. Obviously you don't mock the president or you don't say anything that's out of bounds about the president but Biden and the Democrats can continue to criticize the administration, you know, make an argument about what's at stake in the election.
There's no reason to just stop the campaign because of this. And in fact it brings to the table the issue of the pandemic. And the policies we need in the next few months or years to deal with it. So I think Biden would actually make his mistake by going silent. I am sure Republicans will not. And so let's see what he does.
HOLMES: Yes. Exactly.
I want to go back to the president's ego, if you like. And when it comes to transparency. I mean CNN's reporting now the president's aversion to appearing weak and sick is what's driving this effort to project resolve as it was called even if what is being project is not true.
How concerning is that that there's almost automatic doubt about what's being said publicly. And that the president seems to see this as political rather than a health issue as we thought of that.
ZELIZER: Well, it's obviously not safe for him so he's not being very careful with his own body. But I do think it reveals how the president has thought that COVID is a sign of weakness, it's almost the wrong thing to be worried about it and take steps to make sure it goes away.
And I think through his own actions in the last few hours, he reveals a lot of why his policies look the way they do. He doesn't want to wear masks, he mocks social distancing and I think it reflects the same thing that's driving him to go out and show he's ok.
He's not ok right now. He needs to recover like a lot of the nation needs to recover. And I think it's pretty problematic.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you too, I mean it's not just Donald Trump, of course. It seems like half of Capitol Hill after that even is starting to test positive. And those diagnoses have sort of enveloped the White House and Congress as well in many ways.
How might the reality hitting home potentially change the political narrative we're seeing particularly from the Republican side related to the virus, I mean?
(CROSSTALK)
ZELIZER: Yes, it's a big question. Republicans have not changed their narrative very much even when people around them, or constituents are living with the nightmare that this pandemic has been.
So the question is when it affect them personally, when they're own bodies are on the line, does this change how they think about it. I'm not so sure. I mean the president's early response suggest even when ill, he's not totally changing his narrative. And so I'm not convinced Republicans are going to all of a sudden be public health advocates and join Dr. Fauci in supporting more aggressive steps to contain this virus right now.
HOLMES: Extraordinary times to be a political analyst. Julian Zelizer, good to see you as always.
ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break. When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll take you inside Israel's giant new hospital to treat coronavirus patients which was built underground. We'll have a live report from Oren Liebermann after the break.
[01:37:57]
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HOLMES: The U.S. has seen its worst five-day period for new cases of COVID-19 since mid August. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 232,000 new infections were reported from last Tuesday to Saturday. That's an average of more than 46,000 cases a day.
Los Angeles tops the list for the most COVID-19 infections and deaths in the U.S., more than 6,600 people have died from the virus in L.A. County alone.
New York City's mayor is pushing to close all non-essential businesses in neighborhoods where the virus positivity rate are rising. The Big Apple, of course, once the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic but took drastic measures to flatten the curve.
Here's Evan McMorris Santoro.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After months of great strides forward in the city's battle against the pandemic, a big step back on Sunday. Mayor Bill de Blasio proposing nine ZIP codes in Brooklyn and Queens return to the kind of restrictions we saw all over the city back in April, closures of schools and non-essential businesses.
And 11 other ZIP codes new restrictions on indoor dining and gyms and pools. The idea is to combat a growing infection rate in those areas. In those nine ZIP codes, a seven-day consecutive infection rate over 3 percent. In the 11, rising numbers that give the mayor great cause for concern.
There's been a lot of good news in New York but on Sunday, the mayor said this was not that kind of day.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: So today unfortunately is not a day for celebration. Today is a more difficult day and I'm going to be giving an update that gives me no joy at all. In fact it pains to be putting forward this approach that we'll need. But in some parts of our city, in Brooklyn and Queens, we're having an extraordinary problem. Something we haven't seen since the spring.
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: The mayor's proposals now have to go to the governor for final sign off. But for those of us in New York City, this gives us a bad case of deja vu.
Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Paris about to get another taste of lockdown measures as coronavirus cases rise. Reports say French authorities will put the capital and the surrounding region on maximum alert this week. Now that means additional restrictions in public areas to slow the spread of the virus. Restaurants can stay open but bars and cafes likely not.
The measures will be in place for 15 days starting Tuesday. France reported nearly 17,000 new cases on Saturday, the highest daily number since widespread testing began.
To the United Kingdom and a single-day case record nearly doubled on Sunday after the government admitted it failed to report nearly 16,000 new coronavirus infections. Public Health England says a technical issue caused the reporting error for cases between September 25th and October 2nd. The government says what it calls robust measures are in place to prevent he problem from reoccurring.
And Israel has recorded more than 266,000 coronavirus cases and with thousands of new infections being found every day, one hospital taking the fight underground.
Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for us. And bring us up to date on the virus situation where you are.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, Israel's coronavirus situation remains very bad at this stage. A new record last week of more than 9,000 cases and although numbers have been down over the weekend is partially because of simply fewer tests.
The positive rate among those tests still remains above 10 percent which is very worrying as Israel's is in its second or third week of its second general lockdown.
[01:45:00]
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LIEBERMANN: In the largest hospital in Northern Israel, the COVID-19 crisis has gone underground. 60 feet underground and 25 feet below sea level Rambam Hospital in Haifa has turned a parking garage into the country's largest coronavirus center.
Despite the undeniable wow factor, this five-acre medical facility is very much part of the country's emergency plan.
DR. MICHAEL HALBERTHAL, DIRECTOR, RAMBAM MEDICAL CENTER: We are entering the essential (ph) care area.
LIEBERMANN: The hospital has moved all its COVID treatment into this 1,500 vehicle parking structure. This isn't just a garage. It's a shelter against bombs and chemical warfare, built after the 2006 Lebanon War.
DR. HALBERTHAL: In a war scenario, this area is supposed to be clean and the outside is under chemical cloud and now it's exactly the opposite. So this area is contaminated and outside is clean.
LIEBERMANN: The hospital now has 770 beds, strictly for coronavirus patients built into parking spaces and traffic lanes. About 80 beds are now full.
Because this was designed as a parking lot, that could be converted to a shelter, all of the connections here were already built into the wall -- the electricity, the oxygen, the tubes -- all of that was here already. And within 72 hours they cleared out all the cars and turned this into the largest underground hospital in the world.
There's no sunlight down here and few creature comforts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That one and on the other side --
And this is the regular (INAUDIBLE).
LIBERMANN: There is an infant ward here, it's empty at least for now. Around the corner is the maternity ward. On floor minus 3 in spot 911, Lamour Gazal (ph) is about to undergo a C-section. She has coronavirus and won't be able to see her baby for at least 2 days after the birth.
LAMOUR GAZAL, PATIENT (through translator): The plan was different. To be with the family with my mom, with my husband, with people around. But suddenly to come here alone, the truth is that scary.
LIEBERMANN: When we last stepped into a coronavirus ward in April, Israel was among the world's best at containing and controlling the spread of coronavirus. There were a total of 14,000 cases in the first two months of the pandemic. Now, there are that many cases every two day. Israel's entire health care system is under pressure. More than 40 percent of the country's internal medicine departments have been converted into coronavirus wards. And more are being changed over every week. Elective surgeries have been delayed and the ability to treat problems other than coronavirus is diminished.
Seven months into the coronavirus pandemic in Israel, doctors and medical teams have learned much more about the disease and its treatment. Still, the number of patients and infections are soaring.
DR. KHETAM HUSSEIN, CORONAVIRUS DEPARMENTS MANAGER: UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we pray and pray that we have the strength to go on. And that the people outside understand that the difficult situation, the severe situation that we are in now and to do business (ph).
LIEBERMANN: For each doctor and nurse in the hospital floor, there's another waiting outside, they switch every two to three hours. The shortage here is not of medical supply or beds, it is of manpower. If these 770 beds fill up, hospital officials say they'll struggle to do anything else.
DR. HALBERTHAL: It's really tough work to be here, you know, mentally and physically. And when you see the country's rate of positive infection, people know that it's going to be only worse before it gets any better, if at all.
LIEBERMANN: There is hardly any silver lining here. No real good news to help the country get through this pandemic. The only light at the end of the tunnel is another patient arriving.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIEBERMANN: It was in fact the day we were in the hospital that Israel set its record of more than 9,000 cases in a day. A few more worrying numbers: there are nearly 900 serious cases throughout the country and 215 patients on ventilators according to ministry of health data.
Michael, all of that worrying here as Israel waits to see if this lockdown limits the spread of coronavirus throughout the country.
HOLMES: And Oren, to that point, how long might Israel's second lockdown last?
LIEBERMANN: Well, the coronavirus cabinet here, the so-called coronavirus cabinet, will meet later this week to decide if it wants to extend the lockdown. The initial plan was for two weeks with very strict limitations and then another two weeks with eased restrictions and limitations.
But we'll see if the government decides to keep in that stricter set of limitations even longer to try to have a bigger impact on the virus.
HOLMES: All right. Oren, good to see you there in Jerusalem for us. Appreciate that.
And you're watching CNN. Do stay with us. We'll be right back.
[01:49:48]
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HOLMES: The alleged murder of a 19-year-old woman in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh has led to massive protests across the country. The woman's parents say she was gang-raped but police have dismissed that charge.
Well now, after heavy pressure, the state government has suspended five police personnel who were investigating her death.
CNN's Vedika Sud reports on the controversy surrounding the case and the growing anger on the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Widespread protests took place across India after the death of a woman on Tuesday from the Dalit community, the law surrounding India's Hindu caste system.
Speaking to the (INAUDIBLE) team, the victim's mother alleged the 19- year-old was gang-raped September 14th in Hathras village, about 130 miles from Delhi.
The identity of the victim and her family cannot be made public due to Indian law.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I found my daughter in the field, she had a noose around her neck. There were no clothes on her body. I covered her body with my clothes.
SUD: Four men, all from an upper caste were arrested in the case after the victim's statement was recorded on September 22, police say.
The victim died Tuesday and on Thursday, Uttar Pradesh's senior police official announced the forensic examination and testing conducted shortly after her statement ruled out rape.
[01:55:01]
PRASHANT KUMAR, ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR GENERAL, UTTAR PRADESH: AS per her statement, we arrested the people and sent them to jail. There has been no delay in getting the report.
VIKRAM SINGH, FORMER DIRECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE, UTTAR PRADESH: If the mother of the deceased said that she found her daughter in a state of total undress in the field, that should have been faithfully recorded. There is a medico-legal requirement that the victim should have been medically examined thoroughly as mandated by law.
SUD: The family also alleged the body of the victim was cremated in the early hours of Wednesday morning by the police without their consent. Officials say they did have the family's consent and some family members were present. Hindu traditions don't permit cremations after sunset.
The state's high court has now stepped in and summoned top officials and police personnel in the case. The court order says the incidents of the day of the victim's death leading up to her cremation has shocked their conscience.
On Tuesday, another Dalit woman was allegedly gang-raped in (INAUDIBLE) village in the same northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Police say the victim who died was drugged by her attackers and the suspects have been arrested.
ARBAB ALI, PROTESTER: Dalits are being oppressed and there is no voice from the government's side against systemic oppression.
SUD: These Dalit families now await justice in India's courts.
Vedika Sud, CNN -- New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh insists the government is committed to the safety and security of all women in the state. In a tweet he said, quote, "Those who even think of harming mothers and daughters in Uttar Pradesh, their destruction is assured, they will get such punishment that will set an example for the future."
Thanks for watching, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.
I'll be back after the break.
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